Winter Tryes car rental Italy - driving into Switzerland

Hi all,

Hope to fly into Bergamo on 28th Dec.
Driving to Switzerland from there.

Not willing to pre-book a car without guaranteed Winter Tyres in a family situation
and just want a basic daily charge like 5 or 10 euros for the tyres. Not hundreds.

But I can't get any commitment on this so far from Rental companies. Avis says "we can only provide snow chains". This is a showstopper for us for such a 3 hour drive and we're not willing to pay hundreds extra (as Firefly have quoted) just for a basis item that is almost law for 4 or 5 months of the year (or at least should be law) i.e. Winter Tyres.

thanks for any help on this,
I haven't got to Hertz yet but imagine they will put up their price also.


T.

Used rentalcars.com a couple of times and got winter tyres as standard and decent price too.

http://www.rentalcars.com/?affiliateCode=google&cor=gb&label=generic-vAolB90r7dUcBVnSwUoNhQS9082447223&ws=&gclid=CJG5o6WM6cECFeWWtAodpSEAuQ

Car hire companies operating in Italy are under no obligation to fit winter tyres as standard, sometimes you get lucky and are given a car that has had them fitted for a previous customer. To be certain of getting car with winter tyres you need to make a phone booking with the hire companies Italian office and insist that the car is fitted with winter tyres. Hertz doesn't offer winter tyres, only snow chains.

If you're planning to drive over the Simplon pass you need winter tyres and chains. If the weather is bad you could use the car train from Iselle di Trasquera to Brig http://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/car-bike/car-trains/autoverlad-simplon.html

Have you thought about using public transport? Parking can be a nightmare at that time of year and it's very expensive, it costs CHF 15.50 a day to park a car in the Matterhorn Terminal at Täsch and CHF 19 at Saas Fee. There are buses from the airport to Milano Centrale every 15mins and trains to Brig every 2hrs. Or you could book flights to a Swiss airport and buy a Transfer Ticket and get a free Family Card which entitles children aged from 6 to under 16 to travel free if accompanied by at least one paying parent http://www.swisstravelsystem.com/en/passes/swiss-transfer-ticket-en.html

I'd echo the train option. You can get a foreigners-only, valid for one-month, Swiss Transfer Ticket (http://rail.stc.co.uk/en/products/swisstransferticket) from SBB via the Swiss Tourist Centre in London (www.stc.co.uk). It may not work out for you but worth costing - go to www.sbb.ch and it'll give you times and prices. Remember that sbb.ch integrates trains and télépheriques and buses. If it is only a couple of you public transport is usually cheaper, but with 4+ car hire often works out cheaper. I like public transport on the way back as I feel that once I'm on the train, I'm 'there' - I hate having to fill-up somewhere near the airport, find the car returns, negotiate the drop-off, and then the worry that I'll get stung for some damage inflicted by the nutter rental drivers in their panic to get the car to the carwash and back.

You are right to be concerned about snow tyres. The law in Italy changed last year , but as many things Italian its complicated. For certain regions you must have snow tyres for all roads,in other regions you only need winter tyres for certain roads . If you are caught without snow tyres on these roads you get a heavy fine.
I had snow tyres fitted last year to a comply with the law and also they arle much better to drive with.

Fitting snow chains on the side of the road is a real pain and if you are not used to it almost impossible.
I would not drive in Italy at this time of year for safety and legal reasons without snow/winter tyres. If a hire company would no garentee this I would not use them and would consider taxi or train.
Hope this helps.

I looked at this, since I hire cars in European winter every season. I gave up. I cannot find a sensible car hire offer.

My conclusion is either public transport, or fly into another non-Italian airport.

It seems only the swiss include winter tyres as standard, the seem to charge extra ...

Not correct. Germany and Austria include winter tyres included in the price, from October until end of March.

In Italy,the car hirers are rarely making any offer. They are not going to set up just one or two cars with winter tyres to order.